Testimony of Penn State asst. may conflict

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, right, and assistant coach Mike McQueary walk the field during practice, Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011, in State College, Pa.

Michael R. Sisak/AP/The Citizens' Voice

A preliminary hearing is scheduled Tuesday in the sex abuse case against former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Five of his accusers are expected to testify, as well as key prosecution witness Mike McQueary.

McQueary, a former Penn State assistant coach, told a grand jury that in 2002, he saw Sandusky in a locker room shower on the Penn State campus, sexually assaulting a young boy.

According to the grand jury report, he saw a boy "he estimated to be 10 years old, with his hands up against the wall being raped by a naked Sandusky."

But Sunday, a local newspaper report raised new questions about whether McQueary may have told a different story back then.

The Harrisburg Patriot News, quoting a source, says that after the incident, McQueary went to his father's home where a family friend, Dr. Jonathan Dranov was also present.?

The newspaper says Dranov reportedly said that at the time, "McQueary heard 'sex sounds,'" saw "a young boy stick his head around the corner" and "an adult arm reached around" and pulled the boy back. The paper said Dranov told grand jurors "he asked McQueary three times if he saw anything sexual, and three times McQueary said no."

At Dranov's home Sunday, a woman declined to comment.

Dranov's account could be important for former Penn State administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, who are charged with lying to the grand jury. They claimed that when McQueary told them about the incident, he did not report seeing actual sexual activity.

Lawyers for the two men said the new information "would be powerful, exculpatory evidence, and the charges against our clients should be dismissed."

McQueary also declined comment Sunday.

But earlier this week, Sandusky's lawyer, Joe Amendola, said this about McQueary: "It would be a shame if all that he reported out of this was that he was uncomfortable with seeing Jerry in the shower with a kid horse-playing around, and all of a sudden over years that evolved into the anal sex situation."

Amendola said that if the information is accurate, it will help Sandusky's case, confirming everything his client has been saying all along.